Her approval feels good, and I manage to smile. “Well, at least I uncovered a weakness in our guns.”
And that’s all I have to show for my absence. All the other girls have come home with inventions or incredible fiances or discoveries that make our lives better. Or all three, usually.
Me? Oh, maybe the barrels of our guns are too weak. Oh, and you can make snowshoes to walk in that one swamp a hundred miles away. Oh, and you can ride on a bobont if you just ended things with the love of your life and you have a death wish.
Not a great result to come home with. Especially not in combination with a broken heart.
The baby starts making impatient noises, and Heidi laboriously stands up. “I think someone needs a nap. Me, I mean. What this baby needs is too disgusting to mention. God, I’m glad you’re back, Jen. We need to be at full strength. Right now I feel like we can do anything!”
She sashays off, towards the little huts the girls have built because the fake sunlight on this level is hard to adjust and still harder to sleep in.
“So,” Beatrice says and grabs my pale hand with her dark caramel one. “A dragon, huh? Was he magnificent?”
I give her a tight smile. “He was pretty magnificent. I mean, I never got a good look at him in dragon form. But he didn’t need that to be… really cool.”
“What was his color?”
“Sky blue. WIth yellow lightning bolts.”
Her dark eyes glitter. “I like him already. Did he kill predators with his bare hands?”
“Constantly.”
“Did he always come back to you, even if you thought he was gone forever?”
“Were you watching us from behind a tree? Yeah, he kept doing that.”
She grins. “So typical dragon. Did he totally suspect you at first, but then he started to trust you, despite himself?”
“Well… yeah.”
She squeezes my hand. “Did you want to do nice things for him, but you had no idea what he needed?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he make you feel the safest you’ve ever been?”
My face starts scrunching up. “It’s pretty fresh, I can’t—”
“Did he make you forget everything else in the world, including the crazy dangers?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did he casually save your life like it was nothing?”
I nod jerkily.
“Did he look at you in wonder? Did he do things for you in a really gruff manner, to camouflage the care he took? Did he sniff your hair like it was the most incredible thing he’d seen?”
The first tear rolls down my cheek. “Fuck…”
She leans in and hugs me tight. “No need to bottle it up, girl. I got you. Hey, I think you got more dragon than just about anyone who’s ever lived. That’s got to be tough.”
I shake uncontrollably with each sob. “He was… he stayed with me, and he was so sick… he could have… could have run so fucking fast through… through the woods and across the swamp. He could have gotten to his cache in a single day if he’d left me behind. He could have healed much sooner. He didn’t need me to find the way. He wanted to make me safe and take me home. Even if it made him sicker every day.”
“I don’t think he knew that,” Beatrice says. “Dragons do all kinds of stuff that comes from deep within them, but they aren’t aware of it. They don’t do a lot of soul searching, these guys.”
25
- Caronerax -
I open the metal box, and endless peace fills me. Everything is there. Nobody has stolen from my cache.
I stick my hand into it and luxuriate in the smoothness and coolness of the gold. There are coins, nuggets, bullion, bars, rings, necklaces, and even a little crown. There are elaborate figurines of alien creatures, shields and drinking cups, utensils and weapons. I know where each little piece comes from. I love it all, every tiniest grain of gold dust in its crystal vial.
I feel immensely rich and powerful. And this is only a small part of my hoard.
I long for it, of course. I long to lay on top of my hoard and just own.
But that day will come.
Now, I must heal.
The Change to dragon form comes easy, and I beat my wings to fly a joyful loop in the sky.
But the moment I take off, my chest stings like never before and I fall on my back, screaming and kicking my four legs in the air, tail and wings cramping and twitching uncontrollably.